A letter to the community from Earnest Yuen
To our amazing players around the world,Hi. This is Earnest Yuen, Senior Director of Production at World’s Edge. As we are hours away from the global launch of Age of Mythology: Retold, it feels like another significant moment for this franchise we all love so much.
Since 2018, we have been pushing the Age franchise forward. With Definitive Editions that brought back the games you know and love, to a new chapter in Age of Empires IV, eleven expansions and so many updates I’ve lost track. And now, today, we’re entering a new era with the release of Age of Mythology: Retold.
Every time we released a new game, a new expansion, we heard from you loud and clear on: “What about Age of Mythology?”, “When is it our turn?”. We’d always wanted to revisit Age of Mythology and finally were able to reveal at the franchise’s 25th anniversary that that time had come, Retold was in the works!
Age of Mythology holds a special place in the hearts of many of us working on Retold. Many of us got to play (and wowed!) by it shortly after the magical Y2K time (so nostalgic), some of us in our childhood bedrooms, college dorms, internet cafes and more. The mythological theme allowed for so much chaos, so much fun, so much mythological power.
When it came to retelling those stories, those legends, we wanted to recreate the game as you remembered it. When we think back to our formative gaming experiences, those rose tinted glasses really take effect and we remember the fantastic graphics, the slick gameplay and emotive music. But, the technology of 2002 limited what the game could be. We’re blessed in 2024 with the ability to take all the potential of the original game and push it to the max. We’ve heard from many of you that you think Retold is our most beautiful game yet. From art, to music, to unit design, to balance, to god powers, we’ve looked at every element of the game and thought about how we could create the most fun. Thank you lovely Age of Myth players, reading the positive feedback really helped our team’s morale and make us want to push even further for our fans.
There is so much to be excited about with Age of Mythology: Retold. It’s the franchise’s only game with mythological pantheons, with super weapons, with lightning storms and laser crocs and titans. In what other game can you live out the fantasy of Odin going up against Ra? In the last few months I’ve had the honor of getting to meet with press and players to talk about the game and I hope that I’ve been able to represent the excitement and passion the team has for bringing this game to all of you.
Advanced Access has been a great way to start this launch journey for Retold. We’ve been able to hear even earlier than usual what you like, what we need to improve and where we should spend time on creating fixes. The team has already managed to get out one game update to improve the experience and we’re readying our next.
I’m so grateful for the team we have. As you know, World’s Edge act as the stewards of the franchise and we’re fortunate to work with development partners around the world to bring you these games. Many of those developers have grown up with the franchise and are now the people determining its future. It’s a great honor to have that responsibility and opportunity and we’re all so grateful to do what we do. Huge thank you to everyone who has and continue to work diligently on bringing the best Age of Mythology to the world, including everyone at World’s Edge studio and our awesome partners at Forgotten Empires, Tantalus, CaptureAge, Virtuos and many others, as well as everyone who worked on the original Age of Mythology. You are all my heroes. Your passion and craftmanship is why we get to have this game in the world.
With just a few hours to go until the game is available everywhere, I wanted to speak on behalf of the team and thank you for loving Age of Mythology. Thank you for pushing for it to get its moment in the spotlight. With expansions and game modes and updates to come, we’re really just getting started. And we’re so thrilled that you’re coming on this journey with us. Now let’s play some Age of Mythology: Retold!
Earnest and the Age of Mythology: Retold Team
